Aberdeen’s girls played Centralia close for the most part, but couldn’t get the offense going against a half-court press and fell to the Tigers, 58-44, in an Evergreen 2A Conference basketball game Tuesday night at Sam Benn Gym.

The Bobcats (0-8, 1-17) have struggled with their scoring all year, but they stayed within striking distance early on. While the mid-range jumpers failed them in the first quarter, the Tigers weren’t too much better at the other end, and the Bobcats led 8-7 heading into the second quarter.

From there, the Tigers began to pull away. Centralia’s defense remained stout and didn’t allow too much penetration inside and made it difficult for the Bobcats to advance the ball past half court.

While turnovers kept the Bobcats from getting things rolling, the Tigers began getting transition buckets and finished when shots were contested at the rim.

Aberdeen head coach John Yonich said his team will have to get better at playing up-tempo basketball if they intend to be competitive next year.

“This league is a tough league. They really get up and down the court,” he said. “If you’re not able to get up and down, you’re not going to last long. We have to learn how to play with these teams, but we’ll get there.”

The speed of the game appeared to be too much for the Bobcats to handle at times, but Aberdeen’s lack of size also played a factor in the loss.

Six-footer Ellie Corwin had 11 points and grabbed a number of rebounds that allowed Centralia to cash in on second-chance opportunities.

Points in the paint were hard to come by at times, but Aberdeen did benefit from aggressive drives from Ryder Heikkila and Reagan Glanz late in the third quarter. Heikkila and Glanz dropped 14 and 13 points, respectively.

The Bobcats trailed by double digits for most of the second half, but Yonich said he was glad to see his team compete until the end.

The Bobcats will be trying to get their second win of the season when they play Rochester on Thursday in their final game of the season.

Getting his seniors a win in their last game when victory eluded them on Senior Night would be a positive for a team that hasn’t seen much success this season, but Yonich is still looking forward to what the program could be in the future.

“I’d like to see them get a win at Rochester to end the season. But if they don’t, that’s fine because we’re going to go into another season and learn how to win these games,” he said. “After a while you’ll expect to win and that’s part of winning.”

Centralia 7 19 16 16 — 58

Aberdeen 8 10 10 16 — 44

Centralia (58) — Sharp 2, Jensen 3, Wilkerson 12, Strophy 5, Porter 3, Kaut 15, Corwin 11, Erickson 7. FG — 23-53 (.434). FT— 6-11.

Aberdeen (44) — Glanz 13, Walsh 3, Pruit 3, Taylor, Heikkila. 14, Jones 2, Stewart 9. FG — 19-45 (.422). FT— 10-10.